


Another Life

by MoonFire1



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fix-It, I reject your canon and substitute my own, M/M, Pennywise is a cowardly bitch, canon was taken out back and shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-29 23:40:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20804888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonFire1/pseuds/MoonFire1
Summary: In another life, so many things had happened.





	Another Life

**Author's Note:**

> Death to the author, baby!

_In another life, Don watched helplessly as the Thing cradling Adrian close to his body opened Its jaws and tore out Adrian’s heart._

_\-----_

Adrian hit the water, the cold shocking breath back into his lungs. He thrashed, struggling for control, calling out for help.

_Don. Oh God, please don’t let them hurt Don. Please, if someone is listening._

Whether or not someone or something was listening would be left to interpretation. Adrian saw a figure crouched by the right side of the riverbank, arm extended, eyes glowing – _glowing? What the hell?_

Instead of letting the water carry him over, Adrian’s arms thrashed again, hands gripping something solid. A large rock, not big enough to stand on, but solid enough to halt his momentum.

“HOLD ON!” Don’s voice made Adrian weak with relief. “HOLD ON, I’M COMING!”

Previously disinterested bystanders scrambled down the bank, following Don’s voice. A human chain stretched across where Adrian could grab someone’s hands and let himself be pulled to safety.

Don clung to him, crying. Ambulance sirens wailed in the distance. Adrian glanced back to the far side of the riverbank and saw that the figure was gone.

_Was that thing my imagination?_

A cold chill swept over him. Images flashed through his mind of a shock of red hair, hellish fangs, and agonizing pain.

_Probably not. We’re getting the fuck out of here._

\----

_In another life, Stanley Uris took a bath after receiving Mike Hanlon’s phone call. The water turned crimson from the wounds on his wrists, and Stanley merely floated away._

Visions of bathtubs and razor blades danced in Stanley’s head. He gave a full-bodied shudder and pushed the images firmly out of his mind.

“Mike’s kept the watch all these years,” he breathed out loud. “I made a promise.” He rubbed his thumb absently over the scar that decorated the palm of one of his hands.

Whatever else might be said of Stan, he would always keep his promises.

He packed a bag, kissed Patty goodbye, and set back off to Derry.

\---

_In another life, Vicki’s mother would notice her daughter missing at the end of the game and search frantically, only to find her bloodied and shredded jacket underneath the bleachers._

“If you were my friend, you wouldn’t be hiding in the dark.” Vicki took several steps back, untrusting the clown clutching the firefly before her.

He began to weep, proclaiming that no one liked him. Instead of prompting sympathy from the young girl, Vicki was reminded of the horrible men at the carnival, the ones that had tried to hurt the man who had given over his prize with a smile.

“You’re NOT my friend,” she shrieked louder before turning and running back out from under the bleachers. She scrambled up next to her mother.

“Honey? Where did you run off to?”

“I thought I saw a firefly.” She clung close to her mother.

\----

_In another life – in **too** many lives – Richie Tozier lived his life in agonizing fear that his secrets would be revealed. He lost the one person who had always cradled his heart without knowing, living with grief that would never fully heal._

“I know your dirty little secret,” Pennywise sang mockingly from on top of the Paul Bunyan statue.

The cold terror that had gripped Richie’s mind dispelled. He straightened up, giving the clown a thoroughly unimpressed look. “So does everyone with access to Wikipedia,” he said under his breath. The outing had been by Richie’ own choice, the entries modified personally. His manager had screamed for his blood for a week until Ellen DeGeneres had invited Richie onto her show for the It Gets Better project.

The mocking grin slid from Pennywise’s face. Between one blink and the next, the clown had disappeared. Richie clutched his arcade token and resolutely turned back, heading for the townhouse where he would meet up with the rest of the Losers.

_Time to kill this motherfucking clown._

\---

_In another life, Eddie would enjoy 15 minutes of freedom from his insidious fears and act to save Richie’s life, believing so thoroughly that his spear could kill monsters that he remained oblivious to the danger still presented. In that same life, the last words Eddie would tell Richie would be a co-opted ‘your mother’ joke, smiling with blood dripping from his mouth to give the others a fighting chance to live._

“This kills monsters if you believe,” Eddie breathed to himself. He hunched down small, gripping the steel bar in his hands, and ran towards It.

He didn’t throw the bar into Its mouth. He aimed and shoved directly at the center of Its chest. The deadlights abruptly dimmed, freeing Richie from their hypnotic grasp. Eddie couldn’t spare a minute to check on him – _God, please be all right, Trashmouth –_ and focused on shoving the bar in further.

One agonizing shriek.

Another.

Eddie lunged back. Something small, inky black, _beat_ on the end of the pipe.

The other Losers scrambled to Eddie’s side, Mike pulling the thing – Its _heart_ – off the rod. Seven hands squeezed firmly, and It finally perished.

\---

The frantic scramble through the lair, back up the sewers, and out of the Neibolt house before it collapsed was almost anticlimactic.

Richie clutched Eddie close, babbling about deaths seen in the deadlights, regrets unspoken, frantic gratitude that the Losers had made it out safely.

Eddie wanted to roll his eyes but clutched the other man just as tightly in his arms. Plenty of other things had to be figured out, but a minute could be taken for the group to marvel at their survival.

“Kiss me without taking a shower, I will actually kill you,” Eddie grumbled against Richie’s forehead.

“Take a shower with me and I’ll kiss you all that you want,” the other man countered.

Mike’s booming laughter rang out. Dimly, Eddie and Richie could hear the Losers squabbling about the settling of various bets. Neither of them cared at that moment, and simply clung to each other.

The details could be settled later.

\---

_In another life, Maturin, sometimes called the Turtle, simply watched as it’s Sibling wrought destruction without consequence or care._

_That life had been dreadfully boring._

_//end//_


End file.
